Mission Andromeda
by wth18
Summary: A Mission Genesis (Deepwater Black)Andromeda crossover fic - my very first! Don't worry if you didn't get to see MGDWB, for it will still make sense, and there are links to backstory etc. within. Beka is catapulted across an inter-dimensional portal and f
1. Default Chapter

TITLE: Mission Andromeda  
AUTHOR: hannahthewriter  
ARCHIVE: Ask please. I'll say yes, but I like to know where they end up.  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters or names on either Andromeda or Deepwater Black/Mission Genesis. They all belong to someone else. I'm just using them for my own amusement.  
RATING: PG

SETTING/SEASON: Late season 2 Andromeda, late season 1 DWB/MG.  
SPOILERS: None from Drom, but most of DWB/MG.  
WARNINGS: Occasional, mild violence and occasional language.

COMMENTS/FEEDBACK: Review. Do it. Do it! Do it now! Go on, punk, make my day!  
SUMMARY: Andromeda/Deepwater Black (Mission Genesis) crossover. After the Andromeda goes out of control and crashes into an anomaly in space, Beka finds herself stranded on a strange ship, where the only person she recognises doesn't seem to recognise her.  
A/N: Since I got into GMW after Mission Genesis had already been and gone here, I had to compile this story from clips, sound bites, pictures, transcripts, character analyses and back story. My thanks go to Karen, who is the creator of the fan site where I got the information needed to build up a picture of the show. For those who didn't see the show, her site is here: 

If you want a summarised back-story, that can be found here: 

There is also an interview about the show with Gordon Woolvett and his co-star Nicole DeBoer who played Yuna here: 

Chapter 1 

_The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity._

_-Dorothy Parker_

Captain Beka Valentine was walking aimlessly through a corridor of the Andromeda, unsure of what to do with herself. Typical, the first time she'd had in months to relax and she was a bundle of nerves. There was no reason for this. It had been weeks since their last battle, Harper had fixed up the ship, and even had time to improve the wiring on some of the 'droids to make them more efficient. Of course, _he _was delighted at the break. He could get roaring drunk every night and had lost a total of 37 various card games with Trance in the past fortnight. Dylan spent most of his time practising inspirational speeches in the mirror as part of his ever-hopeful quest to become a politician. Tyr was undoubtedly counting his weapons somewhere, or practising his surly looks in a mirror in an ever-hopeful quest to be cold and indifferent (and was, admittedly, doing a lot better than Dylan). Yet Beka was actually bored, and would have given anything for one good, healthy opportunity to blow something up.

'Come _on _Beka,' she scolded herself angrily. 'Enjoy a nice break while you have the chance.'

'That's the first sign of madness, you know.' A smug voice came from behind. Although, she knew that voice extremely well, Beka nevertheless drew her force-lance and whirled around instinctively. She was only mildly surprised to find that Harper was looking at her upside-down, hanging from one of the many ventilation shafts on deck 19. He raised (or lowered) his hands in mock terror.

'Hmmm, and that would be the second. Are we a little tense today, Captain Valentine, or is pointing guns at crewmates the latest fashion and I'm just not clued up enough to know it?'

Beka hurriedly tucked the force-lance back into its holster. She knew that he wasn't really offended, but he had been christened Seamus Sarcasm Harper and brought a well-needed wisecrack to every situation. 'You shouldn't sneak up on people like that Harper,' she snapped. 'One of these days you're going to wake up with your head blown off.'

She saw Harper's mouth working furiously, and bit her tongue in annoyance at her mistake. Strangely, he didn't comment on it. 'Oh, Beka, has the pain of not launching a single missile for two weeks finally caught up with your nerves?' Sometimes Beka worried that Trance was passing on her mind-reading skills to Harper. 'Anyway, I didn't sneak up on you, I was here all the time, fixing that freakin' ventilation system. Just when I think I've got everything in total working order, something else goes kaplooey and the whole ship threatens to turn us into mush. Oh well, at least nothing else can go wrong.'

Beka was could have blessed Harper for those famous last words, because just as he finished speaking, a siren started to wail deafeningly throughout the ship, red lights flashed and Dylan's voice came out of nowhere yelling at them to get into command _now_. An involuntary grin crept over Beka's face, even as Harper groaned wearily behind her. She turned to him and said brightly:

'Oh well, off to work!'

'Well, whoopee, let's crack open the champagne now,' Harper said sarcastically. 'Me and my big mouth. Fine, you get off to command. I'll just finish putting this stupid thing back together and I'll be there right behind you. Oh, and Beka? He said as she turned to leave. She spun on her heels to see a cocky smirk spread across his face. 'Don't worry, I promise not to wake up with my head blown off!' And with that he swung back up into the overhead, leaving Beka staring furiously at the spot where his head had just been.

'So, what is it,' Beka said brightly as the double doors slid open smoothly to let her in. 'Magog? Nietszchean? Viking?' she got several quizzical looks. 'Never mind,' she said hurriedly. 'You had to be there.'

'It's a…' Dylan began, then faltered as he realised he had absolutely no clue. Instead, he gave her a visual. 'See for yourself.'

'Ooh, a big swirly, whirly, portal thingy. Haven't had one of them in ages,' said Harper, who, true to his promise, had come in right behind Beka. It was actually a pretty accurate description, for the thing that Beka was looking at was very big, very swirly-whirly, and looked horribly like some kind of portal. In fact, if you took away the ever-looming threat, it was quite beautiful, almost like a map of the Milky Way. The centre of it was a wild array of iridescent, peacock blue sparkles, so bright that you could still see them even after you had closed your eyes. This then spread out into a dozen, curved arms, which were swirling around so fast that it was difficult to see them as individuals. The whole thing was partially screened by brilliant, misty wisps of cloud, which gave the impression that the whole thing was being seen through smoked glass. The overall effect was hypnotising to Beka. The others were not so easily impressed.

'My primary sensors tell me that it is exerting an extraordinary amount of gravitational force,' Rommie informed them, letting a few stray tendrils of alarm creep into her voice.

'Great, if it isn't someone trying to blow us up, someone trying to take over the ship, or someone trying to infest us with Magog…' Harper had had many bad experiences with Magog, including being infested with about a dozen Magog eggs. 'It's some giant space whirlpool trying to gravity us to death. Fantastic. And this time we can't even wave a big white flag at it with a message saying "don't shoot us, we're cowards". Dylan, unless you've joined the Save The Orphan Giant Space Whirlpool Society, can we please get the hell outa here?'

'I'm trying, Mr. Harper, don't worry,' snapped Dylan. 'But this… thing is not letting us go, and even our engines don't have enough power to fight it. From the way it's sucking us in, I'd think it was a black hole, but according to Rommie it's not, it's a sort of…'

'Giant space whirlpool, like I said. So if we can't get away from it, what are we supposed to do, huh?' The Andromeda was getting dangerously close to the portal. Beka was beginning to see something moving around inside it, but however hard she looked, she still couldn't quite make it out. Suddenly, with a horrible tremor, and a flash of sparks and smoke, the Andromeda lost control completely and began a sickening downward spiral towards the portal.

'Um, buckle up?' said Dylan, just before they collided with it hard enough to throw every crewmember crashing to the floor in a blinding explosion of light. The inside of Beka's head felt as though it might implode from the noise and the heat, and when unconsciousness arrived it was bliss.

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_Didya like it? Didya hate it? Do you want fries with that? I won't know unless you review!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Crawl on me  
Sink into me  
Die for me  
Living Dead Girl_

From _Living Dead Girl_ by Rob Zombie (intro song to _Bride of Chucky_)  
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Beka woke up with her face pressed against cold steel. Her eyelids felt sore and blistered, like she had been in a fire, and when she tried to open them a stinging pain shot through her brain.

_Oh God, don't let me be blind, please._

But as she opened them, this time ignoring the agony it caused, bright lights and colours appeared, too blurred for her to see anything yet, but becoming clearer, which meant that she wasn't blind. She didn't think she was deaf either, as she was starting to hear voices, distant and fragmented, but still there.

'Comin… ound… water… ear me?'

Her mouth was unbelievably dry, and her throat felt like it had been sandpapered, but she was _alive, _that was what was important. Though as she tried to move, and pain in her joints shot down through the length of her body, she began to doubt whether this was a good thing.

'… ear me? Is she… got to… alive… hear me… wake up girl!'

Beka's body spasmed in pain and the scream that had been trapped deep down inside of her burst out through her lips as unfamiliar hands attempted to hold her down. She felt some kind of cold liquid trickling through her parched lips and nearly vomited from the shock. Then she realised, she was lying on the floor of a strange ship, and someone was trying to give her water.

'Well she seems pretty active for a dead person. Strong too, it took three of us to hold her down. Do you think she's a soldier?'

'More like an escaped lunatic. I think I've got a black eye coming.'

'You've had it coming for a long time.'

'Thanks. It's nice to know you care, Mother Theresa.'

The voices were perfectly clear now, and when Beka blinked a couple of times to clear her eyes, she saw three faces looking down at her. The woman trying to give her water was young, and had a pretty face that seemed to be a façade for a tougher interior. She had short, dark hair and fair skin, and her eyebrows were knotted together in concern over sapphire eyes. Perhaps it was the after-effects of the explosion making her delusional, but Beka found a kind of affinity with this woman. She was strong in her heart and mind, but also kind and ready to stand up for people and befriend them. It was what Beka hoped people saw when they looked at her.

'Are you OK?' she said, her voice soft, reassuring. 'Anything broken? I think she needs some more water.' She reached out a hand, keeping a wary eye on Beka. The woman who passed her the glass had pure, coffee-coloured skin and a head of tight, gleaming curls. The first woman gently poured some more water down Beka's throat, and when she tried to resist, the woman held her chin gently but firmly in place, the way she might restrain a child having a temper-tantrum.

'Shhh, it'll do you good. That was quite a nasty shock you had. Can you try sitting up? I need to see if you've hurt anything.'

Normally Beka would have instantly flared up at being so blatantly patronised, but she could see the sense in the woman's words, and slowly, painfully, pushed herself up on her elbows.

'Well done,' cooed the woman. 'Now can you tell me your name?'

Before Beka could reply a wave of dizziness caught up with her and made her feel like she was falling off of the Niagara Falls on Earth. She saw oblivion sweeping towards her like the shock wave that follows the implosion of a sun, but just before she lost consciousness, she saw the man crouching next to the woman that she had first seen. He had white-blond hair, which was spiked up to give it an almost dishevelled look, and soft blue eyes, one of which had a slightly red tinge round the edge where Beka had hit him when she first woke up. He wasn't quite a hunk, but he had very pleasant features, though at the moment they were creased with sympathetic concern. Beka had recognised him as soon as she had seen him, though she didn't understand what he was doing here, on a ship full of strangers yet acting as if he had known them for years. Right before the darkness caught up with her, right before she collapsed back onto the floor and closed her eyes, she whispered his name, the name of a man she had known for years.

'Harper?'

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'Harper? That's a strange name for a girl. It must be her last name. Or her nickname.' Captain Reb Anderson stood up slowly, wincing at the cramp in his legs he had got from crouching down for so long.

'Not necessarily,' Yuna, the woman with short dark hair replied. 'Where she comes from it might be a really common name.'

'Yeah, but where _does _she come from, that's my point. She just dropped in out of nowhere.'

'Not out of nowhere. Remember the portal? I knew there was something weird about it. Though I didn't count on it dropping strange women onto our ship. I shouldn't have made her sit up; look she's out cold. Hey, you… Harper!' she snapped her fingers over Beka's face, to no effect.

'Oh, yeah and that's really gonna help!' Reb said sarcastically. 'She needs medicine, Yuna.' He looked at Beka with a troubled expression.

'What? Reb, what's the matter?'

'Oh, I dunno. It's just, before she passed out, she sort of… looked at me funny. Like she recognised me.'

'Do you recognise her? Is she from one of your prexes?'

'No! I don't even get one of those weird déja vu things. I've never seen her before, in any of my lives!'

The woman sitting on the other side of Yuna spoke for the first time. She had been staring at Beka with a thoughtful expression and distant eyes, but now she stirred as though she had just become aware of the other people in the room, and felt something was expected of her. Her name was Gret.

'Reb's right, we need to get her some medicine. If she did come from that portal then I don't think she had an easy ride getting here. I'll go tell the others that she woke up. Bren's been getting all paranoid.'

'OK, you do that,' said Reb, not taking his eyes off of Beka. Yuna was watching him, and felt a tiny flicker of jealousy, which she squashed immediately. Reb had every right to be curious if, as he said, the blonde woman had seemed to recognise him. She might even know something about his past, something that would help him to find out more about who he really was.

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_Go on, review. You know you want to! Thanks to all who did before, you are all stars!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_To him that you tell your secret you resign your liberty._

Ancient Earth proverb

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Beka woke up slowly, stirring each of her limbs in turn to make sure that they were all in working order. She instinctively reached for her weapon, but it wasn't in its holster. Someone had stolen it. Her initial indignant feelings were swamped by cold terror. On her back, weaponless, on a strange ship and with no idea where the rest of her crew were, except perhaps one, and even he had changed. Beka Valentine had never been so vulnerable in her life.

'Yeah, we had to take your little toy away. We didn't want you hurting yourself. Actually, we didn't want you hurting us mostly, but we were concerned for your safety as well.'

That voice… so familiar. It sounded amused yet had a trace of relief. She opened her eyes and rolled over. She was lying on a bunk that reminded her of the crew's quarters on the Maru: rough sheets and an uncomfortable mattress. Harper was sitting next to her.

'Nice to see you're alive and well again. We thought we'd lost you for a couple of moments back then. So, if you don't object too much, we'd like to ask you a couple of questions… Harper, is it?'

Beka thought she must have misunderstood him. That or he had gone insane.

'What… but… I'm not Harper!' she said.

Harper looked taken aback. He had obviously been caught off guard. Then his puzzled expression turned a little smug. He turned around and spoke to someone on the other side of the room.

'There you go, I _said _it wasn't a girl's name! We must have misheard her.' Standing behind him were the two women that had been there when she first woke up and another woman with fine auburn hair tied up loosely in a ponytail. There were also two other men there. To the left of the woman with brown-red hair was a tall, strong-looking young man with dark hair that fell into his eyes. He had his arms folded defensively across his chest, and what looked awfully close to a scowl on his face. The other man was sitting down on another bunk. He was dark skinned, and was looking at her with an openly curious expression. Harper turned back round to face her and, newly inspired, shot at her:

'Well if your name isn't Harper, then what is it? Because when you first woke up and we asked you your name, you said it was Harper.'

'No, no I wasn't saying that my name was Harper,' Beka replied, confused. She didn't understand why Harper was behaving so strangely. '_Your_ name's Harper, don't you remember? I was talking to you!'

'Huh?' it was Harper's turn to look confused. 'My name isn't Harper, it's Reb, Captain Reb Anderson! This must be some kind of mistake. Why, do you recognise me?'

'Recognise you? But… Harper… it's me, Beka! Come on, you have to remember!' But Harper, or Reb, as he seemed to think his name was, only shook his head, perplexed.

'But, you _have_ to remember! Your name is Seamus Zelazny Harper. You were born on Earth. You call me 'boss'. You're an engineer on board the Andromeda Ascendant. Remember Trance, and… and Dylan, and Tyr and Rev Bem! Remember the Magog and the Nietszcheans, and the Commonwealth? Remember Sparky Cola and Weisbrau?' Beka was nearly screaming at this point, because at everything she said, the man in front of her, she couldn't even think of him as Harper any more, just shook his head helplessly. And Beka began to notice the changes that had happened since she last saw him, not just the hair but other things as well, some big, some just minor details. When he turned round to look at his crewmates for help, she saw that he no longer had a dataport. He was wearing a strange uniform, a blue, long-sleeved shirt with an insignia on the front. Harper never wore a uniform. Also, he was not always cracking jokes and smiling like Harper, he was serious to the point of being surly, and he was acting like he was in charge; he had called himself 'Captain'.

'Look, I'm sorry… Beka, is that your name? But nothing of what you said makes sense. Except, I _am_ an engineer, but this ship is called the Deepwater, not the Andromeda Ascendant. And as for being born on Earth, well… don't you _know_? That's why we're here, that's our mission, to…'

'That's enough, Reb,' snapped the dark-haired man behind him. 'Be reasonable, we don't even know her. She just forced her way onto our ship and started spouting a load of rubbish.'

'Oh, come on Bren,' the man, Harper or Reb, replied. 'I mean, isn't it strange that she doesn't know anything. About the Pandora virus, about the original Deepwater and its crew? I'm not going to tell her anything that isn't general knowledge.'

'Actually, I agree with Bren,' the auburn-haired woman interjected. 'I think before we start telling her all about us, she should tell us a little bit about herself, and about why she seems to think your name is Seamus Whatever Harper.'

'OK,' the man, _Reb_, replied, but Beka could see that he wasn't happy about having his authority challenged. He took a deep breath, then let it out. He looked at Beka and said, 'Well then, Beka, I think you'd better tell us a little bit about yourself.'

Beka hesitated for a moment, then gathered her thoughts, took a deep breath and began.

'…And then we hit the portal and the next thing I remembered was waking here on your ship,' Beka concluded. It had taken the best part of three hours to tell the whole tale, and that was leaving large parts of it out. At first the crew of the Deepwater had interrupted her, and when she had told them about the Andromeda's hologram, the dark-skinned man who had been sitting on the bunk, who introduced himself as Zak, had sat up a little straighter. He had asked her lots of questions about the AI and about Rommie, and in return had told her about Gen, their own on-board computer. However, after a while they had all settled down to listen to her. All, that is, except for Reb. He had fidgeted constantly and his forehead creased up every time she talked about Harper, asking lots of questions about Harper's personality, his features, his good and bad points, the things that he had built and where he had got the ideas from. Yuna had looked at Reb quite a lot, also with a worried expression. Several times she had reached over to him and gripped his hand, helplessly offering the only comfort she could.

'So, you see why I thought you were Harper?' Beka explained rather breathlessly. 'I don't know why this has happened, or how I got here, although it seems to have something to do with the portal that we both ran into. Maybe this is some kind of alternate universe, and maybe somewhere out there there's another Beka Valentine and another Dylan Hunt, I really don't know. Mostly I just want to go home to the Andromeda. I think if I can get back then I can figure out what happened, what caused all this. I want to see my friends, my _family _again.'

There was silence for a few moments, then Lise, the auburn-haired woman spoke.

'You say that where you come from the Earth is still there? There are people on it, alive and well?'

'Well, I wouldn't say that they were well, and a lot of them aren't alive any more. The place is overrun with Magog and Nietszcheans. Like Harper says, their two main hobbies in life are making peoples' lives a misery, or making them non-existent. But if you're asking if there are still humans on there, then the answer's yes, there are. Why?'

Again, silence reigned for a few moments. Then Reb cleared his throat and looked up at her, and Beka was shocked to see his electric blue eyes were bright with tears.

'Because,' he replied in a choked voice, 'here, in this universe, there is no one left on Earth. They were all killed off by a virus - the Pandora virus. That's why we were... that's why we're here,' he corrected himself quickly at a sharp look from Bren, but Beka was sure he had been about to say something else. 'We have the technology to repopulate the Earth.' He gave a wry smile. 'And it's only going to take about another 50 years to get there.'

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_Well, I hope you enjoyed this little chapter. Or if not, I'm glad you've_ endured _it thus far. So now comes the time to tell me what you thought. Be kind, please!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"_Our thoughts compressed_

_Which makes us best_

_And makes for stormy weather."_

From _Pure Morning _by Placebo

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'So what do you think?'

'I think that your escaped lunatic theory is starting to seem even more likely. Come on, you can't seriously think that she's from an alternate universe, Reb? That's…'

'Possible. It's still possible, Yuna. You have to admit that she seemed pretty sane when we talked to her.'

'Sane? Reb, she was talking about a non-existent Commonwealth, magical fairy portals that transport people to other worlds and big hairy bogeymen that lay eggs in people's stomachs. I'd say she's just seen too many scary movies. Either that or she's lying. I think she's lying. Her eyes are too close together.'

'Yuna! That's such a load of sh…'

She shot him a glare and he closed his mouth, pressing his lips together and clenching his teeth. Sometimes he felt like hugging her, but there were times like this where he felt throttling her. Reb could tell that she was letting her personal feelings for him cloud her judgement. What was more she was defying him. He was still the captain of this ship, and he'd be damned if anyone was going to talk to him like that.

Then Reb calmed down a little. After all, they weren't just shipmates. They were friends, equals, especially him and Yuna. They had been the first to wake up, the first to find themselves on the Deepwater and remember who they were and what they were supposed to do. He hated himself when he thought like that, like he had a right to order her around, so he bit back an authoritarian retort and stayed silent for a while.

'Well, what do you suggest we do with her?' Yuna said at last.

'We have to get her back to her ship…'

'Asylum,' Yuna muttered darkly.

'…And her crew. They must be looking for her,' Reb went on without even a pause.

'I hate to be a pessimist, but you did notice that she's not even wearing a proper uniform? If she's telling the truth, why hasn't she been issued with one, especially considering the fact that she's supposed to be part of this 'Commonwealth' that she keeps babbling about?'

'Why do you have to be so nasty?' Reb snapped at her suddenly. Yuna was taken aback. She hadn't realised just how spiteful she must have appeared to be.

'I'm sorry,' she apologised humbly. 'I'm just a little shaken up, I guess. But how do we get her back to this ship, the 'Andromeda'. That anomaly… I've never seen anything like it before. Plus, it disappeared. It's gone. How are we going to recreate it if we don't even know what it is?'

Reb was quiet for a moment. The thing was, he'd been working on it for hours, replaying it, going through it in his mind, building models, writing pages of theories and hypotheses and he was still no further ahead than he had been. He was out of his depth. _The original would have known what to do_, a nasty voice whispered in his head. _But you're not the _real _Reb Anderson. You've been alive for nearly 500 years and you still know practically nothing.You're a baby._Reb realised that Yuna was still talking and tried to listen.

'…And the only thing that struck me was how she seemed to know you, or at least to know someone who looks like you,' Yuna concluded, then looked at him meaningfully. He latched onto her point straight away.

'Are you suggesting that…' he frowned. 'Another clone? One we didn't know about?'

'Exactly!' she exclaimed passionately. 'Come on, Reb, you've come face to face with yourself before, and you remember how that turned out! This could all be a trap!' she caught a sob as it tried to force it's way out of her throat. 'I don't want to have to watch another one of you die!'

Reb glanced at her worriedly, but then shook his head in anger as if her words buzzed around his head like angry bees. 'That was different. That was a second Deepwater. That was a second Reb Anderson. This other guy… he's nothing like me. He doesn't even share my name! He has no authority, and from what _she _tells us he doesn't seem to take things very seriously. He's not me, he probably doesn't even look that much like me!'

'From what she says. I think she's either lying or insane,' Yuna retorted, regaining her composure and crossing her arms stubbornly. Reb sighed, then raised his head and spoke into the air.

'Gen, are you listening?'

The ship's computer materialised next to them. 'Always.'

'Run a check on our, uh, _visitor_. Check for brain damage, trauma…'

'Ten steps ahead of you, sir,' Gen interrupted a little smugly. 'There's a little bruising to her left arm but her mind is undamaged.'

'I suppose you were checking her vital signs when she was talking?'

'No elevation in heartbeat or breathing rate to suggest that she wasn't telling the truth. Her pulse increased slightly towards the end but according to her reactions I'd say that was just a result of stress and frustration.'

Reb looked at Yuna pointedly.

'OK, OK, so if she was telling the truth, what do you suggest we do?' she snapped. 'Like I said, we know nothing about that… thing. And even if we did, the ramifications of entering it could be…'

'New? Exciting? Exhilarating? Informative?'

'I was going to say catastrophic,' she sighed, her brow creasing. Reb watched her, then gently pushed a lock of hair away from her face and smoothed out the skin of her forehead affectionately.

'Hey,' he said softly. 'Turn that frown upside down. Look, I promise to take care of you. To take care of all of you. And this Reb keeps his promises.' He sighed and stood up, then turned to Gen. 'Gen, can you locate the co-ordinates of that anomaly we encountered? I have a feeling something that big is going to leave behind some breadcrumbs.'

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_Thou hast read, now make good and review, spake the great and wonderful htw._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"_And I'll have lived it tomorrow_

_No don't look at me that way_

_Well I heed the words you say…_

_But my heart has gone astray."_

From _The Man Who Would Be King _by The Libertines

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Dylan paced, as he always did when worried. His lips were pressed tight together, his uniform rumpled as though he had slept in it. He was practically trembling from frustration and fear. He was the only crewmember left in Command, the others at their various posts. It had been too awkward for them to stay in the same place ever since they had realised that Beka was gone and that they had no idea if she was still alive and, if she was, how to get her back. Finally his head whipped up and he snapped: 'Rommie!'

She materialised next to him. 'You yelled, sir?'

He waved a hand helplessly, trying to remember why he had called her. 'Have you… traced her last position yet? Have you find any residue from where we crashed into that… thing?'

'Dylan, if I had then you would be the first to know about it,' she replied, sounding as exasperated as it was possible for a ship to be.

'Then there's nothing?' he asked hesitantly.

'I didn't say that, captain. I simply said that I haven't found anything yet. There are a few tests that I have yet to run.' She paused, looking at him with concern. 'You should get some sleep. You've been on your feet for the last 27 hours and 47 minutes. What with the crash and the stress you've been under, you must be feeling exhausted.'

'I can't sleep!' he exclaimed, looking at her like she was insane. 'Beka's missing! What if she's dead? What if…' he didn't finish, just sank down onto the deck and put his head in his hands, massaging his temples. Andromeda stood where she was awkwardly, not knowing how to deal with this. She rarely saw Dylan like this, with no idea how to deal with the situation. She just watched him, and then after a while Dylan made an effort to pull himself together and looked up at her, dry-eyed.

'Shouldn't you be running those tests?' he asked her.

'I'm running them as we speak,' she said, trying her best to appear sympathetic. 'But…' she paused, and looked up like someone who thinks they may have just heard something, a whisper, a noise from far away, and is trying to hear the echo.

'What? What is it? Damn it, Andromeda, talk to me!' he yelled, getting more and more agitated until he felt like leaping forward and shaking her holographic form. She didn't respond for a few agonising seconds longer, then looked at him with a furrowed row.

'Captain, there's another ship on my radar.'

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'Reb this is insane! I can't let you do this!' Bren barked, grabbing his determined young crewmate firmly by the arm as Reb's hands flicked frantically over the controls. Bren yanked viciously so that Reb was forced to stop what he was doing and look at him. 'Are you listening to me? We can't do this; it's too dangerous. The mission…'

'The mission can wait!' Reb snapped. Bren was taken aback; he had never heard his friend say those words.

'The mission is paramount!' Bren responded at last, his voice shaking. 'The mission is the reason we're alive. The mission is everything!'

'The hell with the mission!' Reb growled, yanking his arm away. 'Don't try to stop me, Bren. I still have command on this ship, and though I rarely give you a direct order I'm doing it now: back off! I know I can do this. Just think what this could achieve. Slipstream. Did you hear her? Travelling faster than light!' his eyes had a strange glaze over them, his breathing fast like he had just run a marathon, and he was speaking fast, the words tumbling over each other in the rush to escape from his mouth. 'We could get to Earth in no time with that kind of technology at our fingertips. It kills me to think of what we've already wasted, all that time. Over 400 years, and many more to come. But we could cut that time into a mere fraction of what it is now with a slipstream drive! Or maybe we don't even need to get to Earth. Not to our Earth anyway…'

'No, Reb, no,' Bren said desperately. 'The people in our universe, in the real world, are depending on us to repopulate the Earth. You want to let them down?'

Reb seemed to slow down for a moment, looking down at the deck sadly. 'You're right,' he sighed. 'We have a responsibility. But… just imagine. Another Earth, one free from the Pandora virus. It sounds too good to be true.' He shook his head and turned back to the controls. 'But that's hardly the issue here. The point is, I've found some residual gravitational energy where the portal appeared. Somehow… I think it's still there, hidden from us. If I can just find it, I could get us into this other universe. I know I can.'

Bren looked at him, frightened, then asked: 'but can you get us back again?'

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Lise hesitated, then rapped on the door with her knuckles. She winced as the cold metal rasped against her skin. It was just habit; the woman wouldn't be able to hear her. So instead she opened a com line and called 'knock-knock.'

Silence, then… 'Come in!' Beka called. Lise sighed at the dispirited tone in the visitor's voice, but entered anyway. Beka's appearance was shocking: rumpled hair and clothes, dark smudges under her eyes like she'd fallen asleep with make-up on, pale face and so miserable that she barely had the energy to lift her head and see who had disturbed her.

_Wow, you look rough!_ Lise thought, but aloud she said tactfully: 'hey, do you need anything? You look like a girl in need of a pick-me-up.'

Beka smiled wearily. 'I know I look like crap. I'm just tired. Do you have any Sparky Cola?'

'Um… no,' Lise admitted. 'But I can give you something to help you sleep, if you like, and something to perk you up if you don't feel like sleeping. Hang on…' she rifled through the bag she had slung over one shoulder for a bottle of medicine. Beka watched her, smiling despite herself. Lise reminded her a little of someone else, a golden girl with a tendency to cheer people up wherever she went. Finally the auburn-haired girl produced a bottle of viscous, clear liquid and grinned triumphantly. 'Aha! This is a mild stimulant. No heavy drugs or anything, don't worry, just something to make you feel better.'

'I'm fine,' Beka lied. Lise just tossed her head and raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. The doctor unscrewed the cap and produced a plastic spoon from the recesses of the bag.

'Do I have to feed you, Miss Valentine?' she coaxed gently. Despite herself, Beka opened her mouth, and Lise poured some medicine into the spoon and then stuck the spoon in Beka's mouth.

'Swallow,' she said authoritatively. Beka did so, then immediately pulled a face and stuck her tongue out, trying to get rid of the awful taste. 'Nice?' Lise asked brightly.

'Yummy.'

'Right, now let's see about those bruises.' The doctor went into the bag again, and pulled out a battered silver tube.

'OK, I am not eating whatever comes out of there!' Beka insisted stubbornly, folding her arms and pouting like a child. 'I've learnt my lesson.'

'I'm not asking you to,' Lise assured her, rolling up Beka's shirtsleeve and inspecting the yellowish-purple bruises. 'Ouch! Well, no matter, I'll sort you right out.' She squeezed some white cream onto the tip of her index finger and advanced on Beka's bicep. The blonde girl jerked away.

'Woah, what is that stuff, chemical burn?' she demanded suspiciously, half-serious. Lise laughed at her.

'Calm down, it's just some arnica. It's homeopathic, it'll help with the bruising.' She began to gently rub the cool cream into Beka's skin, and despite herself the First Officer enjoyed the tingling sensation. It was better than burning any day. Little by little she relaxed the muscles in her arm, and felt herself slowly unwinding mentally. When it was all rubbed in, Lise rolled Beka's sleeve back down and smiled reassuringly. 'All done,' she proclaimed.

'Thanks…' Beka began, but suddenly the both of them were thrown to the deck as the ship bucked and tossed around. Beka gasped as the landed on her bad arm, then her head gave up the fight against stress and sleeplessness and she slumped onto the deck like a rag doll.

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_My muse has done a runner! Hot damn, I gotta go get it back or there isn't going to be a chapter 6! But you know what helps my muse? You got it... reviews! My muse is a review fiend! So please, won't you try to keep it happy?_

_Oh, and thanks lots to_ **fwe** _for reviewing, though ya didn't leave an address just letting you know your comments were mucho appreciated!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try._

Beverly Sills

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'**REB!**' Bren screamed at the top of his voice, clutching onto a railing for dear life. But the young captain didn't even seem to hear him; he was too busy trying to bring their bucking bronco of a ship back under control, and failing miserably at that. Swallowing an urge to vomit, Bren made his way over to Reb and grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around. 'Reb, where's the portal? I don't see the portal!'

'We're in the portal, stupid!' Reb roared back over the wailing of the alarm siren. With the next nauseating tossing motion, Zak and Gret half-ran half-fell through the door. They both wound up on the floor with the breath knocked out of them, and before they could stand up, the portal spat the Deepwater out into a strange universe, much faster than the engines alone would ever be able to propel it.

'Reb, what the hell is going on?' Zak yelled, struggling to get to his feet on the shaking floor.

'My God, Reb, what have you done?' Gret added, holding onto Zak's arm for support.

Beads of perspiration broke out on Reb's forehead as he tried to ignore the shouts of his crew and slow them down. _Come on, Reb, you can do this. You were chosen. You're the best of the best._ He threw on the brakes until they creaked, until the friction must have been enough to set the Deepwater on fire. He didn't even notice the new ship appearing on the radar until it was too late.

'Andromeda, is it Commonwealth? Nietzschean?' Dylan asked desperately, wiping his brow while peering at the radar and the strange ship that had just appeared.

'No,' the ship replied in her usual minimalist fashion. 'I can't identify it. It's like nothing we've ever encountered before. Very primitive, though, I can't detect a slipstream drive or any other familiar modern technology.' Dylan nodded distractedly.

'Can you give me a visual?' he asked. As a way of reply, the Deepwater appeared on the screen in front of him. Dylan frowned at it. 'It looks out of control… I think someone's trying to slow it down. That must mean there are people on board. Alive people. We have to try and save them. Andromeda, do you feel up to playing catch?'

The hologram nodded crisply. 'We should inform them of what we're trying to do, though, so that they can attempt to manoeuvre themselves into a more suitable position. I'll have to adjust our systems a little but I think I can open a com line to them.'

'Do it,' Dylan commanded, not taking his eyes off the screen where the Deepwater was hurtling towards them. There were a few moments of silence. Then…

'Audio communications established,' Andromeda said. First there was a lot of hissing and crackling. Then a voice sounded out, interjected with static but still just audible.

'This is Captain Reb Anderson… _ssshhrrrkkk_… eepwater. We… _cccrrrckk_… immediate assistance… _sshhrrrkkk_… condition unstable… _ffzzzttt_… please help!' For a moment the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

'This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant speaking,' Dylan replied in his most authoritative voice. 'We are doing our best to assist. We need you to try and slow yourselves down a bit more so that our drones can guide you into our airlock. But we must have your assurance that you have no intention of harming us.'

Another pause, then: 'We couldn't even if we wanted to, Captain. We'll do our best, but I've got the brakes on and I don't know that we're slowing down fast enough, and our steering's not what it was.'

'Just do your best,' Dylan said. 'Andromeda, open the airlock.'

'Well?' Zak asked breathlessly, standing on trembling kegs as the cabin finally stopped shaking.

'This ship… the Andromeda, it's the one that the woman came from, isn't it?' Bren asked quietly, watching the drones approach with wide eyes. 'You know what that means, don't you?'

'Yes, I'm aware of what that means, thank you, Bren,' Reb snapped back. 'But would you rather die?' He looked up as the Andromeda filled the screen, the airlock open and awaiting them to board. 'Here goes nothing,' he whispered, and slammed the emergency brakes on as hard as he could, his eyes screwed up tight. 'Brace, everyone!' he yelled, the message broadcast throughout the ship. He could only hope that Yuna, Lise and Beka would have the sense to do as he said without question.

The Deepwater hurtled on board the Andromeda smoothly, before colliding painfully with the deck and creating a screeching shower of sparks. Luckily, Reb and the others had managed to buckle themselves in, or undoubtedly they would have been thrown to the floor once again. As it was, the straps created painful welts across their arms and shoulders and tore holes in their clothes, and their heads snapped back and then forward at whiplash speeds, and creaking the muscles of their necks. Finally, the ship slowed to a halt. Reb looked up to check that his crew was all still intact. Then he grabbed a microphone.

'Yuna, are you OK?' he called into it. The torrent of abuse that followed assured him that she was. He then asked the same thing of Lise and Beka. The strange blonde girl didn't reply, but Lise, who was with her, called breathlessly, and angrily, that they were both alive if that was what he was asking, but that Beka had been knocked out and that Lise herself felt like she'd fractured her skull. Reb cut her off mid-flow and eased himself out of the helm.

'Right, we'll go get cleaned up and then see if our hosts are really who Miss Valentine says they are,' he said grimly. Bren opened his mouth to argue, but Reb silenced him with a look, and the four young crewmembers made their way painstakingly to the showers and fresh uniforms.

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The airtight door creaked open and a hiss of compressed air escaped. Dylan wrinkled his nose at the stale smell. The air conditioning must have given up the ghost just before they had arrived. He steeped on board the Deepwater and looked around in amazement at the strange surroundings. Tyr followed close behind him, holding a very big gun close to his chest and scowling at the plumbing. 'Is anyone there?' Dylan called, hoping that there was still someone left alive.

Silence, for the most fragile of moments, then footsteps. The sound of boots clanking against metal as someone approached, someone who was very eager to see them. Tyr gripped the gun a little tighter, but Dylan shook his head sternly. Suddenly, from round a corner, Beka appeared. Dylan stared, but not for long. She caught him around the middle and nearly knocked him flying. As it was he staggered a few steps back and felt what seemed like all the breath being squeezed out of his lungs.

'Dylan!' she cried happily. 'I thought I'd never see you again! Oh, Dylan, there's so much to tell you; you wouldn't believe what I've seen, _who _I've seen. Dylan, Har…'

'Yes, OK, Beka,' Dylan cut her off impatiently, sure that she was delirious. He pushed her away, firmly but gently, and held her at arm's length, looking into her eyes carefully. 'Now, Beka, who is the captain of this ship? How many people are there on it? Where are they?'

'I believe that I might be a tad more eligible to answer your questions, Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant,' someone called loudly. Dylan looked up from Beka and started as he saw that what had once been empty space a few feet away was now occupied by six people. All young, all dressed in fresh, crisp uniforms, with their arms held behind their backs, seemingly subconsciously, out of habit. They all carried strange weapons; not dissimilar to Gauss guns, in holsters at their hips, a couple with various throwing knives and other blades. The uniform had an insignia on the front in old Earth characters that Dylan could not read. But apart from all these factors, one stood out in Dylan's eyes, as it had done in Beka's. The young man who had spoken, whose voice he recognised as the one who had the claimed the title of Captain, had stepped forward, a wry smile forming on his lips, but his guard not dropping. He had very fair hair, sapphire-blue eyes that seemed to carry a wisdom associated with men many years older than him, and a sadness that only came with those who do not truly know who they are. The man was Dylan's Chief Engineer, Seamus Zelazny Harper.

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_Please review. And thanks again, fwe!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"_He came in on tiptoe,_

_He came on the sly,_

_Sweat on his forehead,_

_And on his lips – a lie."_

From _The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy_ by Tim Burton

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'Boy, what the hell are you doing here?' Tyr snapped irritably, watching Harper with a kind of weary annoyance. Dylan watched Harper's lips tighten at the word "boy", and by the time Tyr had finished speaking his eyes had dropped down from his back and hung casually close to his weapons, not clenched but looking as though they would very much like to be clenched. He seemed to take a deep, quiet breath, and Dylan was willing to bet that he was counting to ten in his head. Then the smile returned and his gaze turned on Dylan.

'My, my, Dylan. What an outstandingly well-disciplined crew you have, from what I have seen so far. One of them running amok and landing on strange ships, the other showing such an open acceptance and warmth towards strangers. And I notice you at least are wearing a uniform of some kind. Pity the others haven't seemed to follow your example. Doesn't really make it a uniform, does it, if only one person wears it?'

'Reb!' Yuna hissed in his ear, stepping forward and placing a slim hand on his shoulder in an attempt to soothe him.

'Don't try to be funny with me, foolish child,' Tyr carried on, ignoring Dylan's warning look. 'You think you can pull this inexplicably pointless stunt just because you jammed a dictionary into your dat... a… por…' Tyr's voice trailed away as his eyes clamped down on the spot on Harper's neck just below his hair where there should have been a little round metal disk there was just clean, smooth pale skin, the blonde hair clipped back carefully and many shades lighter than that of the Harper that he knew. Harper gave a knowing smile.

'Right, that's it!' Dylan snarled, losing his temper. 'You are going to tell me just exactly who you think you are to talk to me like that, what you are doing, where your dataport is, and who these freaks are!' The strange crew bristled and muttered among themselves, but Harper's lip simply curled slightly.

'Very well, to answer your questions… My name is Captain Reb Anderson, as I told you before, I'm not sure what you mean by dataport but I assure you that I don't own one, and these 'freaks' are my crew. They are also my friends, so if you insult them you insult me. As for what I'm doing…' he paused. 'That would take a long time to tell.'

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Dylan, Beka, Tyr and the crew of the Deepwater were gathered on obs deck. Beka had tried to explain who the strangers were, and stopped when she realised how little she knew. Yet the crew were unwilling to divulge too much. They told Dylan about the Pandora virus, the mission to repopulate the Earth and save mankind, Reb had even told Dylan a little about the machinery of the Deepwater, of its engines, its layout and – with some pleasure – the weapons they had onboard. Yet there was an aura of deceptiveness, something they were keeping back. But Dylan was not interested in this; he was slightly preoccupied by the fact that his Chief Engineer's doppelganger was sitting in front of him wearing a strange uniform, claiming command of his own ship and crew. But unlike the Andromeda, Dylan had noticed that Reb seemed to be captain only by default, that they were all equals, that they each played a part, every single member as important as the next. At one point Andromeda had appeared on the nearest screen, and Zak's eyes had lit up with interest, but Dylan dismissed her with a wave of his hand, waiting for an opening in which he could ask the questions that he really wanted to know. Finally it came.

'This is all fascinating,' the High Guard Captain said suddenly. 'But you see, what I really want to know is why Harper seems to have developed an identical twin without his knowledge.'

Reb tried to restrain himself from rolling his eyes impatiently. 'I hardly think it's _too_ complicated,' he sighed, with a trace of exasperation. 'Obviously we come from two different universes. Is it really so hard to believe that in each reflection of similar realities, there might also occur a reflection of the entities inhabiting them. Looking the same, but different people, echoing the nature of the metaphysical against that of intelligent organics.'

Dylan shook his head, not only in amazement at Harper – and he still thought of him as Harper despite himself – talking like a philosopher, but also at his lack of emotion. 'But wouldn't it be just incredible for you to stand face to face with _yourself?_'

Again, that small, ironic curve appeared at the corners of Reb's mouth, like he was enjoying a private joke. 'I imagine so,' he said softly. 'But then again…'

'Reb!' Gret said suddenly, warningly, from over his left shoulder. She was gripping the back of a chair so hard that her knuckles had turned white, like the bone was about to burst out of her skin, and she was trembling, a frightened look on her face. Dylan noted her reaction with curiosity, but didn't comment, yet. He sighed, and made a steeple with his forefingers, resting his chin on it and watching Reb thoughtfully. He only knew one person on board who would possibly be able to explain this properly.

'Trance!' he called, knowing that she would hear him, but Reb frowned and looked over his shoulder, as if expecting to see whom Dylan was talking to. A moment of silence, then…

'Yes, Dylan?' Trance replied over the com line.

'Where are you?'

'Hydroponics,' she replied promptly. 'As always.'

'Well can you make your way to my obs deck, please. I have something I need your help on.'

'Wha… yes, Captain,' she said, unable to disguise the curiosity in her voice. Dylan looked back at Reb, who had the strangest smile on his face, and his head cocked to one side as if trying to see things with a whole new perspective.

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Harper sat in machine shop 12, trying to concentrate over the sound of his own uncontrolled muttered curses. He knew something important was going on; Tyr had opened a com line to him briefly, stating only that there was a diplomatic meeting going on that Dylan would prefer the 'little professor' to keep out of.

'Little professor my ass,' Harper spat bitterly. 'He just wants me to keep out of things that I might actually enjoy doing. I ought to go stand up to him. I'm sick of this, "yes Dylan, no Dylan, three bags full, Dylan" stuff. I'm Seamus Harper, Diplomacy is my middle name!'

'I thought it was Zelazny,' Andromeda said, materialising next to him. Harper looked up at her, then snorted and went back to his flexi with disinterest.

'Oh, so the queen of politics graces the little mudfoot with her celestial presence, does she?' he mumbled sulkily. 'Well suppose I have two middle names? What if my name's Seamus Zelazny Diplomacy Harper? Or Seamus Diplomacy Zelazny Harper… though I gotta say that Seamus Zelazny Diplomacy Harper has a little more of a ring to it…' his voice trailed away as he noticed Andromeda's eyebrows touch her holographic hairline. 'Did you want something?'

'Harper, stay out of this,' she told him sternly. 'Dylan's orders.'

'Well what if I decide I don't want to?' he sneered rebelliously, jutting his chin out at her.

'I'll lock you in.'

Harper's jaw dropped. 'You wouldn't!'

'Would you like a demonstration?' she threatened, but her voice was gentler. 'Trust me, Harper, this is for your own good.' And with that she dematerialised, leaving Harper gaping at empty space.

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'Well, your theory of 'alternate universes' is all very pretty, Reb…' Dylan said slowly.

'Captain Anderson!' Reb snapped, his pale cheeks flushing a little. Dylan frowned, but carried on

'Captain Anderson, though you've told me a lot about yourself and your crew, I can't shake the feeling that there's something you're holding back,' Dylan persisted. 'You've told me that this Pandora virus occurred centuries ago, that steps were taken when the humans of Earth started dying out, but how did you come to be here now? If the virus spread, if humans were killed off, then how are you here now? Are you 400 years old? I suppose it might work if you were cryogenically frozen, but for so long… how did you do it? I've a feeling you didn't accidentally stumble into a black hole like I did.'

Reb hesitated, then shared a meaningful glance with the rest of his crew. Lise worried her lower lip, Zak stared furiously at the deck, Gret ran a trembling hand through her hair, and Bren's face appeared set in stone, but Yuna, just for a second, seemed to shake her head, so gently and briefly it could have just been a shiver. Reb saw it, and understood. He looked back at Dylan, opened his mouth, but was saved by the sound of the hatch sliding open. Dylan looked over and smiled.

'Ah, Trance!' he said. 'I'd like you to meet some guests. This is…' he stopped at the expression on Reb's face, on the faces of the whole crew, but mostly on Reb's. His eyes were wide, staring at the beautiful golden girl with a jumble of emotions dancing across his features. Trepidation, recognition, shock and - could it be – _love?_

Beka was also watching him. 'Reb,' she said gently, leaning forward. 'What's the matter.'

For a moment… silence, then Reb breathed a name, not taking his eyes off of Trance.

'_Aurora._'

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_Hehehe... cliffie? Me? Are you insane? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, I'm afraid. Tumteetum..._

_You likey? You hatey? You confusedy? Telly me-y!_

_Coughreviewpleasecough _/


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"_Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then_

_I haven't wished him dead. Prayed for it_

_so hard I've green pebbles for eyes,_

_ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with."_

From _Havisham _by Carol Ann Duffy

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Yuna had seen the woman as well and her heart sank, then flared up in her breast with indignant rage, ripping through her like a scalpel through a strip of cloth. This was _her _Reb. How much more would she have to endure? First him falling to his knees for that Beka woman, and now Aurora was back. And she could tell just by the way the fierce glint in his eyes slowly softened, melting like chocolate over a hot stove, and the way he whispered her name like a prayer, that he remembered her too. Then the moment was slashed by Reb's cry of pain, and Yuna dashed forward to grab him as his knees buckled and…

_Soft lips that smile the way she played with her hair when she was thinking the way she pursed her lips when she was upset or angry and wanted to hide the tears in her eyes lifting her head to look at him, the corners of her mouth curving up mischievously as she cupped his cheek in her hand and oh God why did you have to go please come back darling, lover, friend I can't bear this…_

'Reb!' Lise cried, dashing forward to help Yuna support his limp, twitching body. She slapped him viciously across the cheek, leaving a splash of crimson flush on his smooth skin; terrified for the same reason that all the others were watching Reb with wide eyes that flickered from their captain to the astonished crew of the Andromeda. Whatever her motives, the blow seemed to stir him. He gave a spine-wrenching jerk then sat up again, one hand cupping his cheek in wonder, as if an angel had just kissed him right there.

'Reb, was that a pr…' Zak caught himself just in time, looking at Dylan nervously. Lise looked at him gratefully.

'He just fell down,' she proclaimed, standing up and looking first at Beka, then Tyr and then Dylan defiantly in the eyes, but avoiding Aurora's wide-eyed curious gaze. 'He God damn well fell down, that's all. It happens.'

Trance watched the scene in shock, at the effect her arrival had had on Harper. But was… was it Harper at all? She looked at him carefully, not just with normal eyes but with her special eyes that saw who a person really was. No, somehow, although this stranger looked like Harper, he was not Harper. Not the Harper she knew. She surveyed with a mixture of confusion and excitement as he clambered painfully to his feet and looked at her, mouth quivering.

'Aurora…' he breathed again, then taking her by surprise he darted forward. He placed his hands on the small of her back and pulled her in close to him, his hips pushing into hers, and he kissed her fully on the lips, passionately, his lips parting as he tried to taste her, feel the old familiar sensation of her warm skin on his mouth, his tongue, sample the moistness of her mouth. Despite herself, and perhaps it was his emotions spilling over into her like a virus, Trance did not push him away, ask him what the hell he was doing. She allowed him to kiss her, and when he broke away to breathe she looked into those ice-blue eyes and what she saw there disturbed her.

'OK, break it up!' Yuna said suddenly, moving forward and pushing Aurora away from Reb firmly by the shoulders. Her eyes glittered like sunlight on a new penny, and shot at her, 'what are you doing here? And what the hell is up with your skin, oh sunny-complexioned one, or did you contract jaundice since we last saw you?'

'Excuse me?' Trance cried, insulted. 'Do I know you?'

'Actually, Trance, I was about to ask the same thing,' Dylan said, looking her up and down suspiciously.

'I swear, Dylan, I don't know what Harper thought he was doing, or who these people are…'

'Harper!' Reb spat bitterly, looking at the golden girl pleadingly. 'Why does it always come back to him? Look, it's me, Reb Anderson. Your boyfriend, remember?'

Trance was about to protest when Beka snorted, rolling her eyes. 'Am I the only one around here with the brains to see what's going on around here?' When the statement was met with blank expressions, she sighed and started ticking items off on her fingers. 'Harper in this universe, Reb in theirs. Trance in this universe…'

'Aurora in ours,' Gret said in awe, not taking her eyes off of Reb's past girlfriend. Trance wriggled under their collective gaze like a vampire in daylight. She wasn't comfortable with this much attention.

'Look, can someone please tell me what is going on?' she demanded, getting flustered despite herself. Everyone started talking at once, each giving a perfectly coherent account of events, which combined sounded like a lot of garbled nonsense. She shook her head impatiently and held up a hand to stem the flow of noise. 'One at a time! I think I'd better hear it from just one person.' And though the statement was heard by all in the room, Trance only had eyes for one of them. Reb stared back, confused eyes silently begging her to tell him what was going on. Not only that, but he wanted to tell her _everything_. In the short time they watched each other, Trance understood this, and she lifted her head and said, 'can I please talk to Harper, I mean… Reb, in private.' It wasn't a question, and the others filed out of the room in awkward silence. Trance turned to Reb.

'It's OK, they're gone, tell me everything.'

'Aurora…' he mumbled once more, and tears cascaded from his eyes. He bowed his head, ashamed, but Trance gently took his chin in a golden hand and looked into his stinging eyes.

'No,' she said softly. 'No.'

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'Reb, you're lying to me,' Trance said quietly, watching him as he turned his head away.

'No… I'm not…'

'There is a fine line between lying and holding back the truth that I generally choose to ignore,' she said firmly. 'Tell me what Dylan wanted to know, tell me what you're afraid of telling me.'

He pressed his lips together and blinked determinedly several times to prevent more salty tears leaking from his eyes. He was still trying to get over the fact that his mind was playing tricks on him; Aurora was not Aurora at all, but this strange prophetess called Trance Gemini, who knew what he was feeling without him ever having to say it 'I…' he couldn't. To tell was to betray his crew, to invite danger where it was not wanted.

'Reb, I won't hurt you, I can't hurt you' Trance told him, knowing that it was a lie.

He thought about it, nodded, and stared fiercely at her as he began to tell his story.

"The first successful clone took place in the late 20th century. It was a sheep, called Dolly. Stupid name, I know, for something that was to become so powerful. Had there been no worries, no issues, the process might have been sped up considerably, but there were flaws. The sheep died too early, living only for four years, like some kind of defect, some kind of ageing disease, was written into Dolly's DNA. People were frightened, some of them were fighting for animal rights, but more were worried about where this research could lead. Human cloning, it was on everyone's minds and lips. It was the topic of myriad essays, discussions, debates, and protests. How could they even begin to imagine such a thing? Especially with this defect, the four-year life span. Many were willing to volunteer; scientists were falling over themselves to try out this new discovery. But it was many years before it actually happened.

"You see, religious activists were terrified of the consequences of this. Cloning some may have called it, but it was equal to playing God. With this technology, humans would be able to do what was described in the Bible as a miracle: resurrection, eternal life. Suddenly, we would no longer have to fear death, because copies could be made, with memories and personalities printed into the minds of the clones. The churches hated this; they feared God's wrath. In the late 21st century, when the first successful human clone took place, the religious stepped up their attack."

Reb stopped, shook his head, placed it in his hands and was quiet for a while. After a few minutes he drew in a harsh, ragged breath, and carried on with fear and disgust in his voice.

"This new group called themselves the Angels of Death, because they saw what they did as being God's work. They were made up of religious fanatics who were not afraid to kill for what they called 'righteous reasons'. I suppose they were the same as witch-hunters in many respects.

"There were, at the time, ten subjects, ten clones. They were hidden in a secret underground research lab in Scotland, but I don't know the exact location. The Angels of Death did, though. Late one night, in the middle of winter, they cut off all the power to the lab, broke in, killed the guards, which was something considering there was practically an army of them in there. Used semi-automatic machine guns, so I hear. But the clones were not so lucky.

"The Angels of Death dragged them out, naked, bleeding and helpless, out onto the moors above the research lab. They… they built a fire, a huge bonfire, like witch-hunters used to build for witches. Then they made the clones kneel down in front of the fire and beg for forgiveness. This they did, but it did them no good. As soon as they repented, they were bound hand and foot and thrown onto the fire…"

Here Reb stopped, unable to go on. He was gripping the table so hard it seemed about to break apart under his grip, crumble into dust. He didn't need to carry on, anyway. Trance was trembling as the images created by his words flashed through her mind. She heard the screams of the clones, the rancid stench of burning flesh tickling her nose, sticking to her tongue. She shuddered, breathing hard, staring at him with all the air of a mute being tortured. Finally, he told the last part of his story.

"The police and the army went after the Angels, of course. But the story was already all over the media. The clones' bodies had been found, and the entrance to the lab was thrown wide open, and when people saw what had happened, they were angry. There was a lynch mob who tracked the Angels down to where they were hiding in a cave not far from the scene of the massacre. They didn't struggle as the people caught them; the were certain to the last that they had done the right thing, and nothing the people did to try and make them change their minds worked. There was torture, red-hot pokers and whips, even iron maidens and thumbscrews and racks, anything they could find. The Angels were tortured and beaten within an inch of their lives, and finally that last inch was breached. The Angels were wiped out.

"After a few years the clone research was started up again, the scientists sure that the Angels were gone. Maybe they were right, or maybe the Angels are still out there somewhere. Either way, though the leaders were gone some of the ideas remained. As time passed, people began to relax, cloning was accepted as part of modern technology. And when the Pandora virus hit, it was needed more than ever. But still, the Angels' spirits terrify the clones, every one of them. Every time someone who knew nothing of the cloning was told, the reaction could not be anticipated. That's why, to this day, clones are terrified of telling people who they really are, or rather, who they really were. Because cloning, in a way, devalues human life, makes death seem like a bad dream that can be cured with just a few strands of DNA."

Reb looked up at Trance. 'Do you know why I'm telling you this?' he asked, knowing that she did, but needed to hear it. 'I'm not the first Reb Anderson. I'm a clone, so are the others. We were chosen. We're the best of humankind to resurrect humankind, each with our own skills. And for all we knew, you and your crew could be potential Angels.'

Before Trance could even begin to think of a response adequate to comfort him, the hatch slid open with a _bang_, and a sweaty, delighted Seamus Harper burst into the room.

'Right, so what's this big secret, then?'

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_Thanks to everyone for reviewing! Feel free to make a habit of it!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"_It's in our nature to destroy ourselves._

_It's in our nature to kill ourselves._

_It's in our nature to kill each other._

_It's in our nature to kill kill kill!"_

From _Blood Brothers_ by Papa Roach

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'Come on baby, do it for daddy, just freakin' well unlock, you stupid Divinedamned thing just… ha!'

Harper grinned in delight as the tiny _click_ that announced his freedom rang in his ears. Rommie, true to her word, had actually locked him in, something that she had never done before and did not have the right to do, which only made him suspect that there was more to this than Dylan meeting with a bunch of chinheads or Niets or whatever. Unfortunately for the Andromeda, Harper had put together and taken apart every atom of the ship personally, so locks presented him with the same difficulty as a picket fence did to a bulldozer, and he was a lot quieter than a bulldozer. He would have at least a few hours before his darling job security noticed he was no longer there.

Checking in both directions first, Harper stepped out into the corridor, knees bent, sneaking along like a spy. Just for fun, he did a couple of commando rolls, pulling his gun out, playing soldier. He didn't really know _why_; it just made the journey a bit more interesting. To anyone passing, he would only be making himself more conspicuous, but there was no one around. This in itself was strange; usually when there was something-political going on there were freaky people with unnecessary amounts of eyes wandering around in flashy clothes, or Robocop-style guards wandering around trying to protect the freaky-many-eyed-flashy-ambassador-types. But it was deathly quiet all around. So he'd been lied to. Great. Fan-freakin'-tastic. Like that made a difference. It seemed that what was going on was need-to-know, and the rest of the crew were of the opinion that Seamus needed-to-know very little.

Harper knew where he was headed; obs deck. He'd traced the last organic infrared activity to there as soon as Andromeda had disappeared. There was some kind of meeting going on there.

He reached the hatch, tried it. Locked. Harper didn't exactly pass out in shock. Instead he drew out an adapter, plugged one end into his dataport (he had to do this first or sometimes whatever he was plugging himself into sparked him), wincing as it slid gently into his cerebellum, probing the inside of his skull. He didn't think he would ever get used to that; it was like sticking a finger down his throat to make himself puke. Then he plugged the other end into the control at the side of the door. He sank to the floor before he entered, eyelids already flickering and showing the white of his eyeballs. It also paid to do this. The number of times when he first got the dataport that he'd wound up on the floor with a lump on his head were countless. His back arched, he saw the lights without using his eyes; and he saw the columns of code that would seem like garbled nonsense to anyone unfamiliar with the matrix, but were like My First Alphabet to Harper.

Trickling his holographic fingers over the infinite numbers and symbols, Harper frowned as he tried to decipher the code that the Andromeda had written in to keep the door locked. Finally, in disgust at how long the process was taking, Harper impatiently took the easy way out (or in this case in). He tried a manoeuvre that had a 50-50 chance of working, and was essentially using a battering ram to break the lock open. His face screwed up in concentration, he reversed the electromagnetic field on a couple of the threads, strained until finally they snapped together and the hatch shot open. Harper jacked out straight away and burst into the room, triumphant, skin and clothes drenched in sweat.

'Right so what's this big secret, then?' The words were out of his mouth before he could control them, still flushed with the intoxicating taste of his victory. But something was wrong. Trance was alone in the room, standing next to what appeared to be a mirror, or a projection of Harper himself, which was staring back at him with equal parts shock and realisation. Testing it, Harper lifted a hand to his head to wipe the sweat away, and the reflection did not follow suit. Instead, it smiled a little complacently and took a step forward. Harper stepped back in terror.

'Aaaahhhhh! What the…?' a stream of curses flowed from his mouth. His left foot collided with his right and he was sent sprawling to the deck, landed on his ass and started scrambling away whilst trying to stand up again. Clambering to his feet, he skipped forward and wrapped his arms protectively around Trance, trying to drag her at the way but at the same time unmistakably using her as a human body shield.

'Trance babe, get away from it! It's not me; it's a demon! It's a freakin' changeling! It's been sent by the Devil to try and trick you!' he yelped painfully in her ear, panting for breath and staring it the thing with wide eyes.

'Um… Harper, is it? Look, I think I'd better explain…' Reb began, making calming motions with his hands and approaching the pair of them. But Harper dragged his gun from its holster and waved it around threateningly. By the way the barrel was shaking, Harper's aim was so bad he could probably hit _himself_ from where he was standing. The irony made Reb smile, as irony always did, but Harper interpreted the amusement as an evil leer and snapped back the trigger. A bullet exploded in a shower of sparks, an implausibly bad shot that landed about ten metres to Reb's right.

'Harper, stop it! Listen to him,' Trance gasped through Harper's suffocating grip on her. Reb sighed, abandoned all hope of getting a chance to speak and walked briskly towards the pair of them.

'Oh no, you stay away from me, freakazoid!' the engineer gasped, backing away and pulling Trance along with him.

'Freakazoid? That's a new one,' Reb said thoughtfully. Then he reached out, grabbed Harper's arm casually and dragged him off of Trance. Harper struggled, but Reb twisted his arm up behind his back and had floored him in a matter of seconds. 'I'll take this, I think,' he said, kicking the gauss gun away. Then he crouched down pressing his knee into Harper's back, and hissed gently in his ear.

'Right, Mr Harper. I understand you have a lot of questions, but struggling won't do you any good and trying to fight me will result in you being hurt or humiliated - or both. So how about cutting the crap, sitting up and talking about this like a reasonable adult?'

'Kiss my ass, uberfreak,' Harper snarled back. Reb flinched, then dragged Harper up by the scruff of his neck, and shook him, then brought his face close to Harper's defiantly petrified eyes.

'Don't call me that! I don't like being called names! It's neither constructive nor clever, and it's not endearing me to you.' He paused, then went on in soothing, coaxing tones. 'My name is Captain Reb Anderson. I'm not from here; I'm from another universe altogether. I want to be your friend.' Harper relaxed just a little bit, and Reb released him.

For a moment, Harper considered grabbing the gun and turning his doppelganger's head into mush, but decided against it. Harper didn't like killing people.

Reb saw the little disc at the base of Harper's skull and drew in a sharp intake of breath. 'So that's a dataport? Wow… I gotta get me one of those…' he reached out and his delicate fingers grazed the metal. Harper flinched, drew back a tightly curled fist and slammed it into Reb's jaw. The impact sent the stranger flying, clutching his bruised face. He was not still for a single second. All Harper saw was a blur before something hit him hard and he and Reb were wrestling furiously, tearing out each other's hair.

'Stop! Stop it!' Trance cried, doing her level best to drag the pair of them away from each other. Reb stopped lashing out immediately, disentangled himself from Harper's flailing limbs and in a flash was back on his feet, smoothing out his uniform. Assured that there were no more creases, he reached gently inside his mouth, gripped something, twisted it with a breathtakingly painful jerk, and threw a bloody tooth to the ground. Harper too stood up. His nose was streaming with blood and his eyes were fiery with rage. He was about to jump on his opponent again, but the hatch burst open again for the second time in the last ten minutes, and the crew of both the Andromeda and the Deepwater poured in, staring at their engineers in shock. The two of them realised that they both looked like they'd just run into a wall and started shuffling sheepishly.

'Is there something we should know?' Dylan asked airily. No one spoke for a very long time. The Deepwater crew was entirely fixated on Reb's double. The Zak took a step forward, looked closely at Harper, his streaming nose and frightened face, and his face split into a huge grin.

'Cool! It's Reb 2!' He laughed and grabbed Reb and Harper pulling them to his sides. 'This is gonna be fun!'

Harper rolled his eyes and wriggled away. 'I still say it's a demon,' he insisted stubbornly, folding his arms.

'And I still say it's an idiot,' Reb retorted, annoyed.

'For the Divine's sake, boy, must you insist on trying to beat the little professor on points for immaturity?' Tyr snapped irritably, glaring at Reb. He turned away. 'I have work to do, unlike the rest of you, who apparently seem to just be trying to turn this ship into a fight club.' He turned on his heel and left. Reb watched him go, face contorted with unnatural anger, hands making white-knuckled fists.

'I swear if he calls me 'boy' once more I'm going to wrench his intestines out with my bare hands and make him eat them,' he snarled.

'Amen to that,' Harper breathed, happy to have found someone who agreed with him. He looked over at Reb, who had a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. Reb looked back at him, their heads turning towards each other at almost the exact same point in time, and their faces split into identical grins, and they began to accept each other.

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_You know the drill by now: review or this fic has a little ACCIDENT! Mwahahahahaaaa!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"_Any distance greater than a single span_

_Requires a second pair of hands."_

From _Book of Matches_ by Simon Armitage

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'So, Beka, tell me how you met Obi Wan and the crew!' Harper said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet excitedly. Beka looked at him strangely but sighed, tossed back her head and replied anyway.

'Shouldn't I be asking you that?' she responded. 'After all, you are somewhat an expert in the area of flashing lights and black holes and whatnot.'

'Ask Reb; he wrote the book on flashy lights and black holes,' Lise interjected, grinning teasingly at him. They were sitting on the Maru, which Reb had insisted upon seeing. But he had avoided looking at the Deepwater as they boarded Beka's ship. It's hull was scarred and battered from their entry and more repairs than he had ever had to do before would have to be made on it. It was just a reminder of his failure, of his weakness, of his temptation. It was a reminder of how he had nearly got them all killed. So Reb saw the absent-minded joke as an attack.

'OK, I get it, I screwed up. Big deal. What are you going to do, throw me in jail?' he snapped defensively. Lise looked taken aback, and Bren scowled hatefully at Reb for being so spiteful. There was a tense silence, in which Harper looked at Reb, surprised at his attitude. He had expected his double to be more… well… more like himself. Then Beka decided the silence was unbearable and spoke again.

'I don't think that's what they were getting at, Reb.' He snorted and looked away. Beka observed him, noting the pale smoothness of his face, unmarred by stubble or scars or wrinkles. A sudden thought hit her. She remembered overhearing Reb saying something… _"I swear if he calls me 'boy' once more I'm going to wrench his intestines out with my bare hands and make him eat them."_ It was an unusually violent response to such a little thing. And she remembered the way he had clenched his fists, reached for his gun momentarily.

'How old are you, anyway?'

He flinched, and looked at the others. It was something that he had thought about a lot. Responsibility put upon the young when those old enough to bear it were gone. It was the one thing that had kept him going, the thing he told himself when he knew his best efforts didn't equal that of his donor. At least the first Reb had been older and more experienced. That was what gave him comfort when he cried himself to sleep, hating having to bear all this, be a captain of a ship and looking after others. He had never had a childhood except for the memories implanted into him; he had spent his real early days in a state of deep unconsciousness, and had woken up a teenage baby. He mumbled his age, hoping Beka wouldn't ask to hear it again.

'Huh? What was that.'

Silence. Then, 'I'm eighteen. We all are.'

It was most unfortunate that Harper had chosen that moment to take a gulp of coffee, because he promptly spat it out, spraying Bren with lukewarm mocha. He tried to apologise but was choking too much to get the words out. He started to turn red, eyes watering, and Lise took pity on him, leaned across and started hitting him on the back. Harper got his breath back and wriggled away, staring at her.

'Hey! Look, lady, you're really hot but I don't appreciate girls trying to break my spine on a first date!' She tutted and pulled away. Then Harper remembered why he had soaked Bren in the first place. 'Eighteen!' he gasped.

Reb's lips tightened and he sucked in a deep breath. 'We were woken up before our time. About 40 years, actually. That's why we look a little…'

'Underdeveloped?'

'Young,' Bren interrupted indignantly, using a towel to wipe down his uniform.

'Innocent,' Zak said, grinning at Gret wryly. She rolled her eyes and added:

'Immature.'

'Fresh-faced,' Lise volunteered.

'Hormonal,' Yuna finished, looking at Reb warningly as he opened his mouth to let out a torrent of abuse. There was an awkward silence, which seemed to be occurring far too often.

Harper whistled softly. 'Now I see why Mr Muscle pissed you off by calling you boy. Well, you just wait until he starts in on 'annoying little man' and 'Little Professor'.'

'Although admittedly you are annoying. And little. And…' Beka pursed her lips. 'We're still trying to work out that last bit.' Harper pointed at her and scowled, opening his mouth to bite back a response, but at that point Trance entered the room. Reb's eyes lit up and he sat up a little straighter. Yuna noted it mournfully. Trance didn't even seem to notice.

'Dylan wants to talk to you all about getting the Deepwater up and running again. We're trying to work out if we have any parts that could help you out.'

'Great,' Beka said, grateful for a distraction. 'When does he want us.'

'Ten minutes ago,' Trance replied promptly, then turned on her heel and left. The rest of them looked at each other then filed out. Reb was last. Before he left, he hesitated, looked around, and then snatched something off of a table, stuffing it into the pants pocket of his uniform.

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Harper hurried into the slipstream core, knowing that it was overdue for an overhaul. Like he didn't already have enough on his plate with the arrival of the peroxide twin, but Harper didn't like to let things get on top of him. _Reb isn't going to interfere with me here. Here, the engineer is k…_

He screeched to a halt at the hatch. Reb himself was on the bridge, his eyes roving over the panel, glancing up occasionally at the ice-blue glow of the slipstream drive itself. Harper's nostrils flared; this had gone too far.

'Hey!' he yelled, striding over to Reb, catching him by the scruff of his neck and spinning him around so that the two were face to face. It was quite a comfort to be able to look at someone as opposed to looking up at them. Being cosmic twins or whatever, he and Reb were exactly the same height. Yet Reb didn't seem at all alarmed. He calmly extricated Harper's fingers from the collar of his uniform.

'Hi, Seamus,' he said, smiling sardonically.

'It's Harper,' Harper replied. 'Now tell me what the hell you're doing here.'

Reb sighed. 'OK, I am not calling you Harper. That's stupid. I don't ask you to call me Anderson, do I?'

'Just humour me, Anderson, and answer the damn question.'

Despite himself, Reb grinned. 'I like you, Seamus.'

Up with the eyebrow. 'In what way?'

'I have a proposition for you, Seamus.'

'Thanks, but I'm not looking for a long-term marital relationship just yet,' Harper said, increasingly worried. Reb snagged what Harper was thinking and laughed despite himself. He grabbed his twin by the shoulder and pulled him down until they were sitting with their backs to the railing. Taking Harper by surprise, Reb pulled a flask of gin from inside his jacket and offered it to him.

'I know you prefer cola and beer or whatever, but you'll need something stronger. I have something to ask you, and it would probably be best if you were sitting down and properly inebriated before I told you. Now take the Goddamned drink before I pour it down your throat for you. It's not poisoned or anything, I promise you.'

Harper was worried. Had someone died? He took the flask, downed a swig of gin, gulping it even though it was so strong it made his eyes water and burned his insides, the aftertaste licking it's way back up his throat in tongues of fiery alcohol. He dropped the hand with the flask in down to the ground and started coughing violently. Reb watched him and waited for the fit to end. Finally Harper looked up and tried to pretend that he had installed a mirror in the slipstream core to reduce the weirdness of the situation. 'You had a proposition?' he gasped, eyeing Reb suspiciously. The ivory-haired double laughed.

'You remembered! Well that's something.' His voice turned serious and he grabbed Harper by the shoulders again. 'Are you happy here, Seamus?'

'Harper…' Harper murmured, slurring his words a little as he swigged the gin again. 'Course I'm happy… I'm a real happy bunny. Gorra lotta friends, ain't I?' he grinned and his head lolled back against the cold metal bar, his dataport clinking against it. Reb shook him again.

'Look, Seamus. I know you a bit now. I know about what you do here. You take this old ship apart, put her together again, save lives, yet you think nothing of it. It's just everyday life to you now.'

'Yup… sure is. I like it too.'

Reb ran a hand through his hair and panted with excited, frustrated laughter. 'My God, Seamus, you drive me nuts! How can you be happy like that, when you could do so much… so much _more!_ Look…' he pursed his lips. 'You are a genius, Seamus. I know you say it just for a laugh, but you really are. Look at this…' he grabbed Harper by the wrist, held up his hand and pressed his own against it. It could have been one hand pressing against a sheet of shiny metal; they were identical. 'You can see that? Our hands? Those are engineers' hands. Healing hands. You have an affinity with them, just like I do. But with me… I know my limitations.' His voice grew bitter. 'I only know what people before me know. But you know so much more… and it would be easy for me to teach you about the Deepwater. With my knowledge and your intuition… and above all…' he looked ahead of him at the thing that lit up his face. 'You know about Slipstream.'

Harper saw where this was going. 'You want me to leave the Andromeda?' he asked, sobering up a little.

'Don't think of it as leaving! That'll never work! Think of it as moving on. If you come with us… and we repopulate the Earth… you'll be a hero! You'll be a legend! Forget this enslaved Earth you grew up on; you can recreate it from scratch. And millennia from now people will remember the name of Seamus Harper, because you will have saved mankind.'

'Saved mankind…' Harper echoed in awe. Then he shook his head violently, trying to clear it. Now he understood the gin. 'No! Dylan needs me! I work for him now. And Beka… I'm still part of her crew, really. They both need me! Ask them… just ask them…' his eyes welled up with tears.

Reb looked at him in despair. He was losing him. Then a sudden idea struck him, and he smiled slyly.

'That's an excellent idea, Seamus! I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal: if I can get both Captain Hunt and Captain Valentine to say, within 24 hours, that they don't need you, that they wouldn't care less if you left, then you come with me onto the Deepwater and become a God. If I can't then you stay here, and I'll leave you forever.'

'WHAT? No freakin' way!'

'Why not? You just said that they needed you.'

'Yeah but…'

'If you're so sure then you have nothing to worry about.' Reb saw triumph coming a mile off and managed to keep his grin on hold. He had won. If Seamus said no, he would be admitting his doubts about his friends. If Seamus said yes, Reb would have him… he would be able to get to Earth in less than a day after Harper equipped the Deepwater with a slipstream drive.

'OK,' Harper said quietly, coming to the same conclusions as Reb. 'I'll do it. Beka would never say that. She never would. Never. Not in a million freakin' years. Not Dylan, not Beka. They need me.'

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_Thank you to the treehugger for you lovely lovely lovely review! Glad you like the story. _

_Cough / ahem review cough. Cough._

_Cough._

_Thank you._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"_In the mirror, I saw my eyes glitter._

_I flung back the sticky red sheets,_

_and there, like I said - and ain't life a bitch -_

_was his head on a platter."_

From _Salome _by Carol Ann Duffy

-

'I don't like this! I don't like it! I never agreed to this! I thought…'

'You thought what? I told you that _I_ would talk to them. Me. Not you.'

'But…'

'Seamus…' Reb bit back a derisive response. He knew that he could not treat Harper like a crewmember. He didn't want to hurt his twin anyway. It would be like tossing insults at a mirror. Instead, he picked up the two items that were to prove the most valuable to him throughout the day, rolled them in his fingertips. One, Harper had explained, was a chip similar to the hair colour-changing nanobots that Beka had for her hair. They would turn Reb's hair a darker blonde, identical to Harper's. The other was a small piece of moulded metal with a few LED's in it, one side of which was coated in adhesive so that it would attach itself to the base of Reb's skull. 'Does this actually work?' Reb asked, intrigued.

Harper laughed. 'If getting a dataport was this easy, I need to go have a word with a couple of Earth surgeons who lied Beka out of about 2000 thrones. No, you need a major operation to get one installed, and then it takes years to learn how to use it properly.' He saw Reb looking disappointed out of the corner of his eye and grinned. 'Jealous?'

'Hmmm? Oh… er… no. Definitely not. Well maybe,' Reb stammered. He sighed. 'This is just another reason I need you, Seamus.'

'Yeah, but there's still the tiny obstacle that Dylan and Beka need me, and the date for them saying otherwise is the same date as the freezing-over of hell,' Harper replied dismissively. 'Here, get changed.' He tossed a bundle of his clothes at Reb.

'Will they fit?' Reb asked, smiling.

'I'd bet a fixed game of Yeshi Dono on it.'

-

Dylan stood alone in Command, plotting co-ordinates for their next destination. Suddenly the hairs on the back of his head prickled. He rubbed them and spun round. Harper was sitting on a railing behind him, head bent back a little as if he was trying to get a better angle on a picture. He smiled lazily. 'Hey, Dylan.'

This was strange. Was this Harper or… no he had the dataport, and his hair wasn't peroxided. Maybe Reb was having a bad influence on him.

'Harper,' Dylan said, forcing a grin. 'You scared me.'

'Oh.' Silence. Normally this would lead Dylan to decide that Reb was having a _good_ influence on Harper, but right now the absent of jokes and quips and mindless babbling made the Captain nervous.

'Look Harper, was there anything that you actually wanted? Because I'm kind of busy right now!' Dylan snapped. It was a lie, but something about Harper was grating on his nerves more than usual. However, his engineer didn't look at all offended, just cocked his head to one side, hopped off of the railing and moved forward until he was standing face to… chest, with Dylan. Harper looked up and smiled.

'Things've been a little crazy recently, haven't they?' he asked mildly, as if commenting on the weather.

'Um… yes?' Dylan responded as best he could. 'What with all this alternate universe stuff. I'm surprised that _you're_ not more overwhelmed by it,' he added a little suspiciously.

Harper sucked in a deep breath, then let it out, looking at Dylan as though he was rather stupid. 'Puh-lease. There's very little can shock me. In fact, I think it's kinda cool. Now there's twice the fun. Though I suppose I can see why you might be a little… threatened.' He left the sentence hanging casually in the air. Dylan knew what Harper was expecting him to say.

'Threatened? What makes you think that?' Dylan questioned with what he hoped was a bemused smile.

'Well… y'are kind of dependent on me. I guess dependency makes people feel a little vulnerable. And now that there's two of me… I suppose you must be a little intimidated.' Triumph tugged impatiently at the corners of his mouth. Dylan gritted his teeth.

'Harper, I do not depend on you,' he said, a little too quickly. He made an effort to calm himself. 'We… we depend on each other. That's what makes us…' he was going to say 'such good friends'. 'Such good crewmates.'

Harper laughed without a trace of humour. 'Yeah so… I guess what you're saying is that we are as important as each other. I get that. Yeah - but I'm the engineer. Can't have a ship without an engineer. Can't have a Captain without a ship. Therefore you can't have a Captain without an engineer.'

'True,' Dylan snarled, stepping closer, his blood boiling in his veins. At least he was still taller than Harper; it wasn't so bad as long as he could carry on looking down at him. 'I do need an engineer, Mr Harper. But you forget that you're not the only engineer in this universe. There are plenty more to choose from who would be happy to replace you, and I bet they'd be a damn sight less insubordinate, too!' He couldn't help himself; Dylan didn't like to be baited, and Harper was provoking him beyond belief. 'Maybe I get a Perseid; they've got some real good engineers on Sinti. Like your precious Hohne, eh? He knew things that you couldn't even begin to comprehend!'

He had mentioned Hohne. This was the part where Harper snapped back a fist and tried to slug him, and Dylan caught him, and made him listen and apologised and made Harper feel bad. That was what should have happened, but it didn't. Harper snorted and tossed his head dismissively.

'Face it, Dylan. You couldn't operate this ship without me. You _need_ me. If I left right now you wouldn't know what the hell to do with yourself.'

Dylan lost it. He placed his hands on Harper's chest and shoved his engineer roughly. It wasn't too hard a push but Harper fell down anyway, and looked up at Dylan with glittering eyes. Feeling he had the upper hand, and unable to stop the adrenaline from coursing through his veins, Dylan yelled, 'Well that's where you're mistaken, Harper! I don't need you! In fact, if you left right now I'd be happy about it, you irritating, good-for-nothing kludge!'

-

'No way am I going with Reb,' Harper assured himself happily as he took his gauss gun, damaged from where Reb had kicked it away, apart. He removed the bullets and inspected it closely with his sharp eyes whilst talking to himself. 'He'll never get Dylan to say it. Dylan does need me here. He needs me. He does.'

Then the Captain's voice broke out over a com line that Reb had set up earlier. _'Well that's where you're mistaken, Harper! I don't need you! In fact, if you left right now I'd be happy about it, you irritating, good-for-nothing kludge!'_

Harper breathed in deeply. He carefully set the weapon down on the table, let the bullets go so that they clattered to the floor and rolled in all directions. He folded his arms and buried his face in them so that the material of his clothing would absorb the angry tears. He hated Dylan.

Harper took comfort in the one thing that he was sure of. _Whatever he does, Reb won't make Beka say it. I'm her little brother, she needs me. Beka needs me. She does. Beka won't say it. She needs me. She won't say it ever ever ever. She won't say it. She won't say that she doesn't need me. _

-

_I am very, very sorry. Feel free to complain. In fact, I implore you to complain! And thank you for your past comments!_

_**Bree1387 **- You like Harper more than Reb now? Hehe... we can all be slightly manipulative when we want to be... hehe!_

_**Mo Cat **- Cough drop gratefully accepted. Coughreviewcough I might need something stronger!_

_**squid109** - Harper is famous for setting himself up, glad you find it fascinating. It is my method of subliminal messaging. gnigassem lanimilbus fo dohtem ym si ti._

_**Darkness Amber** - You and your big mouth are always extremely welcome! _:D _Aten't they, Reb? Reb? Reb has run away to be evil_

**Fwe**_ - Lovely dance you're doing there! Almost as lovely as the review Blush_

****


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"_Oh please save me, save me from myself._

_I can't be the only one stuck on the shelf._

_You said you'd always fall for the underdog."_

From _Underdog (save me)_ by Turin Brakes

-

'What are you up to, Reb?' Yuna asked him suspiciously. He was sitting in front of her and the crew, smiling to himself. 'Come on, I know that stupid grin of yours. It means, "I am planning something and I don't need any help, so I won't say anything about it until it's too late for anyone to doanything."

Reb's grin widened. 'There's enough room for that on my lips? Well damn, Yuna, your intuition has tiny handwriting!'

'I'm serious, Reb! What have you done?' She was frightened; Reb didn't usually keep things from her for this long, and this looked like something pretty big, something that would affect all of them.

Reb sighed. 'Look, Yuna, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by saying that there's nothing going on, but I can promise that you won't be hurt by it. In fact, it'll make your dreams come true. Think of it as a gift. And right now it's all wrapped up so you can't see what it is yet. But you will find out... soon enough.'

'Damn it, Reb, what have you done?' Bren barked angrily, standing up. 'Tell me or I swear to God I'll...'

'You'll what?' Reb sneered, standing up as well and rising to the challenge.

Bren laughed with vindictive pleasure. 'Let's just say it won't be very comfortable for you.'

'Bren don't! Reb… stop being so defensive! Why can't we just stop this? I wish we'd never left the Deepwater! I want to go home!' Lise was close to tears, yet it struck Reb how pathetic it was that that hunk of metal was all they had to call their home. True, it was the only place they'd ever known, but it was still kind of depressing. _But I know someone who knows how to call a ship home, and pretty soon he'll be ours. One down, one to go_.

-

Beka's fingers twitched and she reached for the bottle of beer. She knew it wasn't what she really wanted, but she'd put a gun to her head before she touched Flash again. The blonde Captain took a swig, set the bottle down again and stared into space. Funny thing was, on the Maru, you really could stare into space. She thought about all that had happened in the last few days and sighed heavily. It was really too much. What if there was a Beka Valentine in another universe? What if there were a million Beka Valentines out there? It was too frightening, it was horrible. All this time she had thought she was an individual, and now she knew that this wasn't true. That turned her heart cold.

'Hey boss,' a voiced said from behind her, sounding as subdued as she felt. But it was familiar, a comfort in a cold world. She turned round and smiled gratefully at Harper, then frowned when she saw his melancholy expression. He was also drinking beer, and his eyes were red-rimmed like he'd been crying.

'Harper? What's wrong?' she stood up, reached over and took him by the shoulders. He wouldn't meet her eyes. 'Spit it out, Shorty. Harper?' her voice broke. 'Divine damn it, Harper, what's up?'

He was breathing heavily like his nose was stuffed up, and his nails were chewed right down. 'I… I've been thinking…' he began, and then stopped.

'Harper?'

He suddenly gasped, his breath hitching in his throat, and his eyes had a faraway glint like he was imagining something, filled with horror like he didn't like what he saw. Then he let out a sob, harsh, high-pitched, like he hadn't done it in a long time. Tears didn't just trickle, but _poured _down his cheeks and his nose started to run like a little kid. Another sob, then another, and he collapsed to the deck, grinding a fist into his eye socket 'Aaahhhhhh!' he moaned, like he was in agony. 'Not… f-f-f-fair. D-d-d-don't…'

'Seamus! If you don't tell me what's wrong I'll beat you to a pulp and drag it out of you!' she yelled, regretting her harsh words at once, knowing that she had only said them out of fright, but also knowing that he wouldn't have seen it this way. He dragged himself back up, stammering wild excuses, and staggered out of the room. Beka yelled after him, but didn't follow. She had no idea what had just happened, but she had a feeling Harper wanted to be alone.

-

The man with dark-blonde turned a corner that took him back onto the Andromeda leaned back against the wall gasping. For a few moments all that could be heard was the sound of his rough, pitiful breathing. Then the person standing next to him, his double, said quietly.

'Well done, Seamus. I couldn't have handled it better myself. Although you didn't get her to say it. Why not?'

'I didn't want to hear it,' Harper spat bitterly. 'It was bad enough when Dylan said it, but if Beka had… it would have destroyed me.' And it would. It would be like a six year-old child pressing his ear up against a door to a place where he was not allowed to go, and hearing his own mother saying: "I don't want him. Take him away. My son does not matter to me, he was a mistake." It would be betrayal, although she wouldn't mean it that way. And he no longer doubted that Reb would have been able to make her say it.

'So does this mean…?' Reb left the sentence hanging.

Harper screwed up his face in anger and hatred. 'I'll come with you. I'll do it.' And then he walked off. Reb didn't try to follow him; he knew he could only serve to make things worse. Let Seamus Harper make his peace with the Andromeda, then Captain Anderson would come for him. He'd managed to fix the majority of the damage to the Deepwater, enough to make it operable. And now he knew how to ride the portals between worlds. With the power of slipstream at his hands, he and the rest of the crew would be able to save the world.

-

Reb walked down a corridor of the Andromeda past Hydroponics. Suddenly, a golden arm appeared from nowhere and dragged him through a hatch. He went for his weapon, but then his face softened. 'Oh. Hi Aur… Trance.' He shuffled his feet, unable to meet her fierce gaze.

She waved his bashfulness away to one side. 'Reb, I have to talk to you. This… thing. You and Harper… it's not right.'

His hand twitched with an erratic skip of his pulse.

'How do you mean?' Careful, cautious, testing her.

She sighed angrily, dashed a hand through her thick red dreadlocks. 'Look I'm going to ask you something. A… a riddle.'

He shrugged indifferently. 'Hit me,' he replied casually. Trance growled in frustration at his off-hand response and grabbed his arm again, forcing him to sit down. Then she took his chin in her hand and forced him to look her in the eyes.

'Consider this: A missile, which always hits its target and destroys it completely, hits an indestructible fort. What is the consequence of this collision?'

Reb did not think for long. 'The missile blows the fort to kingdom come,' he said briskly. 'Is there a point to this?'

Trance shook her head sadly. 'I thought you'd say that. But you're wrong. How could this happen? I just told you that the fort is indestructible.'

This was harder than he had thought at first. Though he struggled, Reb could not think of a way that he could answer the question. 'I give up,' he admitted at last, the words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. Another defeat.

Trance smiled sadly. 'Can't you see? I tricked you. This event could never occur because the two things are contradictory concepts. There is either an indestructible fort or there is a missile that destroys everything.

They could not both possibly exist.'

Reb stood up angrily. 'You tricked me!' he echoed furiously. 'That wasn't fair! Besides, what the hell has this got to do with me?' He knew.

'You and Harper are like the missile and the fort. You should not both be in the same universe, it's not – ' she searched for the right word. 'Right,' she finished weakly. 'Please, you and your crew have to leave. At once. Don't carry on with this idiotic plan of taking Harper back with you.'

'How did you know about that?' he snapped.

She touched the delicate whorl of her ear with the tip of a golden finger. 'Most people's idea of within earshot and mine are two different things. I hear more than people say. But really, I saw your plan in your eyes. Luckily for me, you wear your heart on your sleeve, Reb Anderson, and in some places it's stained black.'

-

_Which is why he was called Bluebeard, the end. Oh wait, that's another story..._

_Thankee kindly, oh lovely reviewers!_

_**Fwe** - Thanks for taking the time to review, surviving fire and ice and the Divine only knows what else! For def. include Bekain your fic; she's my second-favourite character!_

_**Darkness Amber** - Guessing is so much fun! Sorry you didn't get your 'I don't need Harper' bit... yet! Mwahahahahahaaaa!_

_Feel free to review, people!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_Everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends.  
Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand.  
If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone_

From _Everybody Hurts_ by R.E.M.

-

'Harper open the door.' Silence, no answer. She knew he must be hearing the little blips, but he did not want her in his quarters. Well… tough!

'I don't give a damn if you don't want me in there, Seamus. If you won't let me in I'll go over your head to Dylan and then he'll know that there's something wrong too…'

The door slid open, and Reb was standing there, arms folded, a strange, lopsided smile on his face.

'Get out of my way, tiger, I want to talk to the adult in charge,' Beka growled at him. His smile faltered for a second, and he stepped aside to let her past. Harper was sitting on his bed, haphazardly throwing clothes, wires, random things into his bag. His lucky rabbit foot was slung around his neck on a leather strap and he was wearing a suede jacket that he only ever wore on shore leave. 'Don't tell me… you won a romantic holiday for two on the sunset drifts,' Beka guessed, half-serious.

'Hey, such a quirky sense of humour is wasted here, you should go one stage,' Reb called sarcastically from behind her. She ignored him, walked forward and pulled Harper up by the back of his jacket and made him look at her. 'What in the Divine's name do you think you're doing, kid?'

He refused to look at her. 'Don't, Beka. Don't say it. Just back off, OK? I'm going to leave, I have better things to do, and I'm not really needed here anyway.'

'Not needed? What the hell gave you that idea? Harper, without you this ship will shake its bolts off, you can't go, now sit down, unpack that bag and be reasonable…'

'No!' The word came not from Harper's mouth, but from behind her. She turned furiously on Reb, whose eyes were glazed and had a half-mad grin plastered over his face. 'He's ours! You had your chance. It's gone. Face it, you can't stop him from joining us on the Deepwater!'

'The Deepwater? What… you're joining the Deepwater…?' Beka was at a loss for words.

'No,' that word again, but this time it wasn't Harper or Reb, it was a collective cry from the doorway. The rest of the crew, Lise, Bren, Yuna, Gret and Zak, were standing there. Bren's hand was on his gun, Yuna's eyebrows were drawn tight together, Zak was looking uncomfortable and Gret and Lise had their arms folded disapprovingly. 'He's not coming. He doesn't want to and you know it, Reb,' Yuna went on. What you've done here is disgraceful. I would rather we didn't complete our mission than have you spawn a race of deceit and misery from this.'

Reb's jaw was hanging slightly open. 'What? But… I did this for us! We can get to Earth using slipstream, we won't have to wait 40 years to get there.'

'Did WHAT?' Beka yelled. 'What the hell have you done to Harper? Why does he want to leave?' She was furious and confused. Reb looked at the floor sulkily.

'Didn't do anything,' he muttered. 'Was your Captain. He called Harper a kludge… said he didn't need him…'

'Oh give it up, _Captain_,' Bren sneered. 'We've seen the footage of that little scene, the unabridged version, not the carefully censored bit that you showed Mr Harper here. You tricked him into saying that.' He turned to Harper. 'I've got to know your Captain a little, and he would never say that normally. But Reb can be damned manipulative when he feels like it. I guess it's the cloning process that makes us all have that little bit of darkness where the bulb flickered for a moment in the cryo pods.'

'Bastard!' Beka screeched at Reb, striding forward and slapping him hard across the cheek, striking him for the second time in a week. His head turned with the blow, and he twisted it back slowly. There were tears in his eyes: angry, hurt tears.

'I didn't mean it,' he mumbled. 'I'm not a bad person. I wanted help. I didn't want to have to wait to get to Earth. I don't want to have to be old when we get there…' his voice trailed away. He was looking at Harper warily, because Harper returned his gaze with open fear and hostility. Beka turned, saw her friend too, and frowned.

'Harper what's wrong?' she asked him.

'Clone…' Harper breathed, face twisted, eyes bulging. 'You're a monster! You're not human! None of you are! My God, to think I ever began to trust you!'

'Now Harper there's no need for that,' Beka scolded him. 'They can't help it if they're a little… different.'

'Monster!' Harper shouted again. He fumbled for his gun, raised it, and pointed the shaking barrel at Reb.

Reb remembered last time. Hurt as he was by Harper's comments, courage and faith in Harper's naivety and bad aim brought a complacent smile to his lips.

'Come on, Seamus. You and I both know that you are not going to pull that trigger.'

Harper fired.

Reb's shoulder exploded in a splash of torn tissue and harmonically splattering blood. The force from the bullet hurled his fragile body against the wall. His neck snapped forward and then slashed back, crunching into the wall. His eyes rolled back into his head as he slid into unconsciousness. This was fortunate; he did not feel the impact as he bounced off the wall and slammed to the floor, breaking three ribs, jolting his heart, and piercing his lung. His last thought spat out from his mouth with the blood. _'Angel…'_

Harper's lips trembled into a weird smile.

'Harper…' Beka whispered. 'What did you do?'

That sick smile spread until it threatened to split his face in half. 'I missed.'

-

_That's all for this chapter folks!_

_Myriad thanks to following shiny happy reviewers._

_**Darkness Amber** - Hope this answered a few of your questions. Hehehe!_

_**VegaKatt** - You shall wait no more! Dylan was a bit outta character, I guess, but I was working on the assumption that even the best of us can have our little moments when provoked._

_**Fwe** - Go you! I take pride in this crap (mainly because it means I can procrastinate over maths homework). Poor Reb... I think I made him much more of a bad guy than he was in the series... oh well, at least he's had his comeuppance now._

_**squid109** - I think this qualifies as the missile hitting the fort... or perhaps the other way round. Hmmm..._


	14. Chapter 14

_OK, OK, I'm a terrible person who leaves updates for MONTHS on end. What happened was, I lost the disk with the rest of this on and I was so depressed about it that I just couldn't be arsed to update for a long time. So to make up for it, here's the next chapter!_

**Chapter 14**

"_Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence._"

Francis Jeffrey

''I was aiming between his eyes,' Harper added conversationally. He relaxed his fingers to let the gun clatter to the floor. There was a stunned silence, then Lise gave a small, terrified, gasping scream and collapsed at Reb's side, supporting his lolling head and whispering in his ear. He didn't respond; he was in a state of deep unconsciousness, but she didn't think it was a coma. Yuna reached down to shake him, but Lise dashed her hands away.

'Be careful,' she cried in a panicked voice. 'He might have hurt his spine!' She pulled off her jacket, folded it up and pushed it under Reb's head. 'You!' she called to Beka, who looked stunned. 'Get Aur … get that nurse lady in here _NOW!_' Beka nodded in a dazed fashion and sprinted away towards med deck.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew had their guns trained on Harper, fingers clenched on the triggers, looking at him in shock and hatred. He spread his arms wide and waggled to his fingers to prove that he was unarmed.

'I'm done,' he said. 'Besides, if a bunch of freaks like you kill me then Dylan will have you all shot. You don't have any rights.'

'Let me get him' Bren muttered, aiming his gun at Harper's shins. 'I got a target, please! We can say it was an accident.' Behind his harsh, tough words his voice shook with injured pride.

'Bren, he's right, we can't shoot him?' Gret said reasonably, although her eyes were shining with tears.

'Why the hell not? He just shot Reb! He called us freaks! It's pretty obvious he's an Angel. I say we give him an Angel's fate,' Bren was seething, his trigger finger aching to cause pain.

'Go ahead, do it. You're an animal. You're not human. I don't expect any better,' Harper sneered, but his voice broke and tears started to spring up and tremble in his eyes. Bren was certain that at that point he would have shot Harper without mercy, were it not for the sudden arrival of Aurora … no, _Trance_, on the scene.

'What happened? What's going on?' she asked. 'Beka said Harper's been shot?

The Deepwater crew looked at Beka quizzically.

'I was confused,' she said. 'I – I just wanted to get Trance down here as fast as possible.'

'It's Reb who's been shot,' Zak informed her, his eyes burning with indignation. 'Harper was doing the shooting.'

'Want to help, Beka?' Harper cried happily. 'I'll give you a weapon and we'll watch them run. Shoot them in the ankles; it slows them down!'

'You shut up!' Bren yelled, striding forward and hitting Harper roughly in the mouth, spinning the smaller man around and knocking him to the floor. 'Don't you dare! Keep your filthy mouth shut or I'll kill you! I'll kill you!'

'Stop it! Leave him alone!' Trance said, her voice hitched and raspy with stemmed tears of shock. She knelt at Reb's side, felt his pulse, and said quickly, 'his back's not hurt, but I'll need your help to get him to med deck so I can cauterise the wound and sort out his chest. You…' she gestured to Zak. 'You take his legs…'

One by one the crew reluctantly lowered their weapons and helped her take Reb to med deck, all apart from Yuna, who stayed behind to watch over Harper. He looked at her, his chest rising and falling in heavy breaths, and he was no longer triumphant, but troubled. His face crumpled and he sank to the floor, hugging his knees.

'Harper…'

'Don't talk to me, monster.'

'You don't mean that, I know you don't. Why did you do that to Reb? What did he do?'

Harper's laugh was muffled by the material of his pants. 'It's more to do with what he is than what he's done. And you're just as bad, so leave me alone.' He lay down on the deck and rolled ontohis side so that he was facing away from her.

'I don't…'

'Eighteen years!' he yelled furiously, jumping up. 'Almost two decades on that stinking planet and what do I get for most of it? Or rather, who do I get it from?'

'I…'

'Nietzscheans! And where do you think they came from, hmmm? What little brainwave brought around the scourge of the Known Worlds? What was the research that enabled them to replicate the cells that they liked the look of and to destroy the ones they didn't? Come on, even freaks of nature have brains, you must be able to work it out!'

'Oh no,' Yuna whispered. 'The first clones…'

'Yeah, think your universe is special? Think it only happened there? It didn't! The science used to make you was the same used to destroy Earth! Because from that research they made clones, and from clones they made ubers! And you're even worse than them because if I were to kill you now you could just come straight back! You're the worst kind of Nietzschean! And I know what your plan is, to take control of the Andromeda, to steal the slipstream drive and to take over Earth!'


End file.
